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ETERNAL 


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PUNISHMENT. 


By 


FATHER  STANISI.AIIS  M.  HOGAN,  O.  P. 


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Mission  Church  Press,  | 

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Boston,  Mass.  I 

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ETERNAL 

PUNISHMENT. 


Father  Stanislaus  M.  Hogan,  O.  P. 


Published  with  kind  permission  of  the 
Australian  Catholic  Truth  Society. 

Tnm 


MISSION  CHURCH  PRESS. 

St.  Alphonsus  Street, 
Boston,  Mass. 


4 


ETERNAL  PUNISHMENT. 


enemy  is  well  established  in  the  very  heart  of  the 
citadel.  This  is  only  the  inevitable  outcome  of  its 
principles.  Necessarily  and  logically,  they  make  for 
unbelief.  Protestantism  will  never  satisfy  either 
the  enquiring  mind  or  the  aching  heart.  Thinkers 
do  not  look  to  it  for  any  authoritative  statement, 
for  men  do  not  “gather  grapes  of  thorns,  or  figs  of 
thistles.”  Protestantism  has  been  “weighed  in  the 
balance,  and  been  found  wanting,”  so  wanting,  in¬ 
deed,  that  thoughtful  men  are  forced  to  choose  be¬ 
tween  Agnosticism  and  Catholicism.  There  is  no 
other  alternative.  It  is  quite  true  that-  some  Pro¬ 
testant  divines  still  cling  to  the  old  teaching  as  re¬ 
gards  the  nature  and  eternity  of  Hell;  but  what  a 
storm  of  dissent  and  disapproval  they  stir  up  when 
they  venture  to  preach  such  a  doctrine  from  the  pul¬ 
pit  !  How  dare  they  disturb  the  comfortable  con¬ 
sciences  of  their  hearers  by  such  medieval  super¬ 
stitions,  invented  by  priests  to  terrorize  the  be¬ 
nighted  people  over  wdiom  they  hold  such  undis¬ 
puted  sway?  Such  preachments  might  have  been 
acceptable  in  the  Dark  Ages,  or  they  may  be  accept¬ 
able  to  ignorant  Catholics  of  to-day ;  but  they  are 
not,  and  shall  not  be,  accepted  by  enlightened 
Protestants  who  breathe  tlie  pure  atmosphere  of 
the  Gospel.  Away,  then,  with  all  such  disturbing 
teaching,  and  let  us  have  doctrine  which  is  more  in 
keeping  with  the  spirit  of  the  age — an  age  that  is 


ETERNAL  PUNISHMENT. 


5 


nothing  if  it  is  not  scientific  and  critical.  Well,  let 
ns  examine  this  doctrine  of  Eternal  Punishment, 
and  see  whether  it  is  Scriptural  or  not :  whether  it 
is  opposed  to  the  idea  of  a  God  of  love  and  mercy  : 
whether  it  is  an  unreasonable  doctrine,  born  of  su¬ 
perstition  and  ignorance ;  or  whether  it  is  a  doctrine 
which  is  perfectly  reasonable  and  perfectly  just. 

The  thought  of  Eternal  Punishment  is  a  terrify¬ 
ing  one,  and  it  has  always  been  so  even  to  the  great¬ 
est  saints ;  but  this  does  not  allow  us  to  deny  the 
existence  of  such  punishment.  It  seems  that  tlie 
ai)parent  contradiction  between  endless  pain  and  a 
God  of  love  and  mercy  arises  from  the  erroneous 
conception  which  some  people  have  of  sin.  They 
forget  that  sin  is  an  offence  which  is  almost  infinite 
because  of  the  Infinite  Peing  Who  is  offended, 
d'hey  keep  the  penalty  and  pain  before  their  eyes, 
and  measure  that  penalty  according  to  their  own 
ideas  of  wrong-doing :  but  they  forget  the  nature 
of  the  offence  which  is  committed.  Our  first  con¬ 
sideration,  tlierefore,  will  be  to  give  the  Theological, 
consequently  the  Scriptural,  idea  of  sin. 

WHAT  IS  SIN? 

We  take  it  for  granted,  first,  that  man  is  a  free 
agent,  that  he  is  the  arbiter  of  his  actions:  that  he 
can  act  or  not,  and  in  whatever  way  he  chooses,  just 
as  he  pleases.  Every  man  of  common  sense  knows 


6 


ETERNAL  PUNISHMENT. 


that  he  is  free.  “Sir,”  said  Dr.  Johnson,  “we  know 
our  will  is  free ;  and  there’s  an  end  on’t.  .  .  .  As 

to  the  doctrine  of  necessity,  no  man  believes  it.  if 
a  man  should  give  me  arguments,  that  I  cannot  an¬ 
swer  to  prove  that  I  cannot  see ;  because  I  cannot 
answer  his  arguments,  do  I  believe  that  I  have  no 
eyes?”  With  the  doctrine  of  Determinism  we  have 
nothing  to  do. 

Secondly,  we  also  take  for  granted  the  truth  that 
man  has  been  created  for  a  purpose.  That  purpose 
is  to  know,  love  and  serve  God  in  this  life,  that  he 
may  possess  God  in  eternal  life.  To  attain  that 
purpose,  man  has  been  given  an  Intelligence  and  a 
Will.  Truth  is  the  object  of  the  one  faculty;  Good¬ 
ness  is  the  object  of  the  other;  and  as  God  is  Primal 
Truth  and  Eternal  Love,  it  follows  that  He  is  man’s 
objective,  the  objective  of  man’s  thought,  words,  and 
actions.  Now,  that  these  things  may  go  to  form  a 
“rationabile  obsequium,”  a  reasonable  service,  they 
must  come  up  to  a  certain  standard — must  be  meas¬ 
ured  according  to  a  certain  rule.  This  rule  is  the 
Eternal  Law,  which  is  made  known  to  man  by  the 
law  of  reason.  When  a  man’s  actions — and  by  ac¬ 
tions  we  mean  not  only  what  is  external,  but  also 
the  internal  movements  of  mind  and  will — when 
these  actions  are  in  accordance  with  right  reason, 
and,  consequently,  with  the  Eternal  Law,  they  are 
good.  When,  on  the  contrary,  they  fall  short  of 


ETERNAL  PC’NISHMENT. 


7 


those  standards,  they  are  defective.  This  being  so, 
we  define  sin  to  be  '‘the  thought,  word,  or  act  which 
is  contrary  to  the  Eternal  Law.”  St.  Thomas,  in 
explaining  this  definition  of  St.  Augustine,  says : — 
“Sin  is  nothing  else  than  a  human  act  which  is  evil. 
That  an  act  be  a  human  act  it  must  spring  from  the 
will.  ...  A  human  act  is  evil  in  so  far  as  it 
falls  short  of  the  proper  standard,  for  the  just  pro¬ 
portion  of  anything  is  had  by  comparison  with  a 
certain  standard;  if  the  thing  falls  short  of  that 
(standard)  it  is  out  of  proportion.  Now  the  rule  or 
standard  of  the  human  will  is  twofold.  One  is 
l)roximate  and  homogeneous — namely,  human  rea¬ 
son  ;  the  other  is  the  primal  standard;  and  is  the 
Eternal  Law,  which,  as  it  were,  is  divine  reason. 
Hence  St.  Augustine  gives  two  parts  in  his  defini¬ 
tion  of  sin — the  first,  which  appertains  to  the  sub¬ 
stance  of  the  human  act,  which  is,  as  it  were,  the 
material  of  Sin,  when  he  says  it  is  “a  thought,  word, 
or  act the  second,  which  appertains  to  the  idea  of 
evil,  which,  as  it  were,  is  the  essential  in  sin,  when 
he  says — “contrary  to  the  Eternal  Law.”(i) 

The  law  of  God,  then,  is  the  standard  of  all  hu¬ 
man  actions.  It  has  been  imprinted  on  the  human 
mind  and  will  of  each  human  being,  who  becomes 
])erfect,  naturally  speaking,  the  more  perfectly  he 
brings  his  actions  into  harmony  with  it;  and,  in-, 
verselv,  the  less  perfectly  he  does  this,  the  less  per- 
(i  )  Summa.  Theologica.  la..  Ila?.  Q.  Ixxi.,  a.  6. 


8 


ETERNAL  PUNISHMENT. 


feet  will  he  be.  Like  the  artist  who  copies  a  pic¬ 
ture,  or  who  puts  his  ideal  upon  canvas,  the  more 
perfectly  he  copies  the  picture  before  him,  the  more 
perfectly  he  puts  his  ideal  on  canvas,  the  more  per¬ 
fect  will  the  copy  or  the  picture  be  in  comparison 
Avith  the  model  on  the  one  hand,  or  the  ideal  on  the 
other.  When  the  copy  falls  short  of  the  model ; 
when  the  picture  on  the  canvas  fails  to  represent 
the  ideal  in  the  artist’s  mind,  there  is  want  of  pro¬ 
portion,  want  of  harmony,  defect.  So  is  it  in  human 
life.  When  the  thoughts,  words,  and  actions  of  any 
individual  are  not  in  line  with  that  Eternal  Law  of 
which  he  has  knowledge,  there  is  defect  in  conse¬ 
quence — defect  which  in  such  a  case  is  sin.  A  man 
takes  some  other  rule  by  which  he  measures  his 
conduct.  He  becomes  a  law  unto  himself,  and  he 
regulates  his  actions  according  to  the  standard  of 
his  own  views  in  this  or  that  particular  case.  He 
pits  his  will  against  the  Eternal  Will.  He  measures 
the  infinite  by  what  is  limited  and  finite.  In  other 
words,  he  claims  equality  with  God.  This  is  pride, 
the  uplifting  of  the  creature  against  the  Creator ; 
and  hence  it  is  that  we  read,  “Pride  is  the  beginning 
of  all  sin. ”(2)  By  pride  the  angels  fell;  by  pride, 
too.  Sin  obtained  a  hold  upon  the  human  race. 
“You  shall  be  as  gods,” (3)  was  the  lure  by  which 
*  the  serpent  tempted  our  first  parents.  “You  shall 

(2)  Eccles.  X.,  15. 

(3)  Genesis  iii.,  5. 


ETERNAL  Pl’NlSH  MENT. 


9 


be  as  gods,  knowing  good  and  evil,’’  is  still  the  radi¬ 
cal  invective  which  sways  the  heart  of  man  when 
choice  is  to  be  made  between  the  Eternal  Law  and 
the  individual  appetite,  between  God  and  the  crea¬ 
ture.  Lor  this  reason  does  St.  Thomas  elsewhere 
define  sin  to  be  "the  turning  away  from  incommut¬ 
able  goodness,  which  is  infinite  .  .  .  and  the 

inordinate  turning  to  the  commutable  goodness. 

that  is  finite.” (4j  Instead  of  taking  God  as  his 
last  end,  the  objective  of  his  life  and  of  all  his  ac¬ 
tions,  man,  when  he  sins,  takes  some  created  good, 
it  matters  not  what  it  is,  and  makes  that  good  his 
god.  It  will  be  seen,  then,  that  sin  is  not  the  action, 
or  word,  or  thought  in  itself,  but  it  is  the  action, 
word,  or  thought  which  is  defective,  because  di¬ 
verted  from  its  true  objective.  Sin  is  in  the  will (5), 
and  the  will  in  the  case  is  in  opposition  to  God.  The 
act  is  transitory  ;  the  will  is  not  so.  And  "while  a 
man  may  give  j)roof  of  his  evil  intentions  by  this 
action  to-day,  by  that  action  to-morrow  one  thing 
ever  remains  the  same,  unless  it  be  radically  and 
completely  transformed — the  human  will.” (6)  The 
will  decides  whether  any  action,  great  or  small,  is 
sinful,  because  the  will  decides  what  is  the  objec¬ 
tive  of  the  action:  and,  once  again,  that  which 
makes  the  will  evil  is  j)ride. 

(4)  la.,  Ilae.  Q.  Ixxxvii.,  a.  4. 

(5)  la.,  Ilae.  Q.  Ixxiv.,  a.  i. 

(6)  Weiss,  O.P.  AiX)logie  de.<  Christentums.  French 

trails.,  vol.  iv.,  p.  342. 


10 


ETERNAL'  PUNISHMENt. 


No  man  can  say  that  he  did  not  know  he  was 
doing  wrong,  if  he  is  in  a  normal  state  of  mentality. 
Conscience  prevents  the  excuse  on  the  one  hand, 
and  on  the  other  we  must  remember  that  it  is  the 
will,  the  intention,  which  constitutes  the  sin. 

Furthermore,  any  act  that  is  persistently  done 
creates  a  habit,  and  -a  habit  renders  the  perform¬ 
ance  of  the  act  easy.  The  boy  who  begins  to  smoke 
generally  makes  up  his  mind,  after  his  first  smoke, 
that  he  will  keep  as  far  away  from  the  fragrant 
Aveed  as  possible  in  the  future.  But  let  him  con¬ 
tinue,  and  soon  the  habit  of  smoking  is  formed,  and, 
finally,  becomes  so  strong  as  to  become  a  second 
nature,  impossible  almost  to  give  up. 

So  with  a  sin.  Repeated  acts  form  habits.  Sin 
comes  to  be  almost  impossible  to  give  up,  naturally 
speaking ;  the  will,  which  in  each  sin  is  in  opposi¬ 
tion  to  God,  becomes  habitually  opposed  to  Him. 
In  each  sin  the  will  rose  in  revolt  against  God;  now 
it  is  in  a  state  of  continual  revolt.  The  created  good, 
which  is  the  objective  in  each  case,  has  obtained  a 
firm  hold  upon  the  will,  allures  and  seduces  it 
easily,  and  thus  enfeebles  the  will.  Naturally 
speaking,  the  will  cannot  break  with  what  has  been 
its  end  and  object,  for  this  means  humiliation,  and 
the  human  will  naturally  shrinks  from  humiliation, 
just  as  pride  forbids  it.  Milton  has  a  fine  passage 
which  exemplifies  this  : — 


ETERX  AL  PU  X ISH  MEN  T. 


I  I 


“Is  there  no  place 

Left  for  repentance,  none  for  pardon  left? 

None  left  but  submission;  and  that  word 
Disdain  forbids  me,  and  my  dread  of  shame 
Among  the  spirits  beneath,  whom  I  seduced 
With  other  promises  and  other  vaunts 
Than  to  submit,  boasting  I  could  subdue 

The  Omnipotent . 

But  say  I  could  repent,  and  could  obtain. 

By  act  of  grace,  my  former  state ;  how  soon 
Would  highth  recall  high  thoughts,  how  soon  unsay 

What  feigned  submission  swore ! . 

. Therefore  as  far 

From  granting  He,  as  I  from  begging  peace.”  (7) 

Until  pride  is  humbled,  there  can  be  no  thought  of 
repentance,  and  the  continual  committal  of  sin 
shows  that  there  is  constant  revolt  of  the  human 
will  against  God,  consequently  lasting  pride. 

W’e  speak  here  of  personal  sin,  whether  actual  or 
habitual.  W  c  are  not  considering  original  or  trans¬ 
mitted  sin ;  and  once  again  let  us  insist  upon  the 
fact  that  sin  is  an  act  of  revolt,  it  springs  from 
])ride;  it  is  the  uplifting  of  the  human  will  against 
the  will  of  God,  and  as  long  as  such  revolt  contin¬ 
ues  there  is  not,  and  cannot  be,  any  (piestion  of  re- 
])entance — and  repentance  is  the  one  and  only  royal 
road  to  obtain  pardon  and  forgiveness. 

PUNISHMENT  OF  SIN. 

Now,  every  fault  that  is  committed  demands  pun¬ 
ishment.  This  is  the  case  in  all  human  intercourse. 

(7)  Paradise  Lost.  Book  Fouith.  79-103,  Cf.  Cain.  Act 
ii.,  Scene  ii.,  by  Lord  Byron, 


12 


ETERNAL  PUNISHMENT. 


When  a  man  steals,  he  is  fined  or  imprisoned. 
When  a  child  gets  at  the  cupboard  and  steals 
the  jam  or  sugar,  he  knows  that  punishment 
awaits  him,  if  or  when  his  mother  finds  him 
out.  Why?  Because  he  has  done  wrong.  How 
does  he  know  that  he  has  done  wrong?  His  con¬ 
science  tells  him.  His  conscience  tells  him  that, 
while  it  is  no  fault  to  eat  the  jam  if  he  has  asked 
leave  to  have  it,  it  is  wrong  to  steal  the  jam,  and, 
having  stolen  it,  he  must  face  the  consequences  if 
his  theft  is  discovered. 

So  in  the  matter  of  sin.  Conscience  tells  that  this 
act,  or  word,  or  thought  is  wrong,  consequently  that 
it  will  be  punished  inevitably,  for  there  is  no 
chance  of  escaping  from  the  all-seeing  eye  of  God. 
A  man  may  not  use  the  words  of  the  Psalmist,  but 
in  his  heart  he  knows  that  David  spoke  truth  when 
he  asked — ‘'Whither  shall  I  go  from  Thy  spirit?  or, 
whither  shall  I  flee  from  Thy  face?” (8)  The  idea 
of  punishment  is  essentially  connected  with  the 
idea  of  wrong-doing.  The  commission  of  sin  entafls 
the  punishment  for  it;  and  the  punishment  is  pro¬ 
portionate  to  the  sin  which  is  committed,  (9)  that 
is,  infinite  punishment  for  the  infinity  of  the  sin, 
finite  punishment  for  what  is  finite  in  the  sin.  For 
“there  are  two  things  in  sin,”  says  St.  Thomas. 
“One  is  infinite,  the  turning  away  from  incommut- 

(8)  Ps.  cxxxviii.,  7. 

(9)  la.,  Ilae.  Q.  Ixxxvii.,  a.  4. 


ETERNAL  PUNISHMENT. 


13 


able  goodness,  which  is  inhnite ;  the  other  is  the  in¬ 
ordinate  turning  to  cominutable  good,  and  this  is 
finite.” 

d'he  reason  why  sin  brings  punishment  in  its 
train  is  that  sin  is  a  perversion  of  order.  “As  long 
as  the  cause  remains,”  says  St.  Thomas,  “the  effect 
will  also  remain;  wherefore,  as  long  as  that  perver¬ 
sity  of  order  remains,  the  punishment  must  remain, 
loo,  of  necessity.  Xow  perversion  of  order  occurs 
sometimes  in  an  irreparable  manner,  sometimes  in 
manner  which  allows  of  amendment.  A  defect 
which  implies  the  destruction  of  the  principle  is 
always  irreparable ;  but  if  this  principle  be  safe¬ 
guarded,  then  other  defects  may  be  remedied  by  its 
virtue.  If  the  visual  power  is  destroyed,  for  ex¬ 
ample,  there  cannot  be  restoration  of  sight  except 
by  divine  power  only  ;  but  if  the  visual  power  is 
])reserved,  though  other  hindrances  to  sight  may 
arise,  they  can  be  cured  either  by  natural  or  by 
medical  ])ower.  Xow,  that  is  the  principle  of  any 
order  bv  means  of  which  a  thing  is  incorporated  in 
that  order.  Hence,  if  by  sin  the  principle  of  the 
order  by  which  the  human  will  is  subject  to  (jod  be 
destroyed,  disorder  will  follow  of  such  kind  as  to 
be  irreparable  of  itself,  though  it  can  be  restored 
bv  divine  j)ower.  The  principle  of  this  order  is  the 
last  end  to  which  man  is  united  by  charity.  W'here- 
fore,  whatever  sins  so  turn  away  man  from  God  by 


14  ETERNAL  PUNISHMENT. 

destroying  charity,  they,  of  themselves,  bring  with 
them  the  guilt  of  eternal  punishment.”  (lo) 

In  his  reply  to  the  first  objection  in  this  article, 
that  as  sin  is  momentary  and  temporal,  it  would  be 
injustice  to  punish  it  by  eternal  punishment,  the 
Saint  says : — "The  punishment  is  proportionate  to 
the  sin  as  regards  sharpness,  both  in  divine  and  in 
human  judgments.  But,  as  St.  Augustine  says,  in 
no  judgment  is  it  necessary  that  the  pain  shall  be 
proportionate  to  the  fault  as  regards  duration.  It 
does  not  follow,  because  adultery  or  murder  are  the 
matter  of  a  moment,  that,  therefore,  they  are  to  be 
punished  by  momentary  penalties,  for  sometimes 
they  are  punished  by  perpetual  imprisonment,  exile, 
or  even  by  death.  The  duration  of  the  act  is  not 
considered,  but  rather  that  the  person  who  has  done 
the  act  shall  be  altogether  removed  from  all  social 
intercourse.  Hence,  in  its  own  way,  it  is  an  image 
of  eternal  punishment  inflicted  by  God.  ‘For  it  is 
just,’  says  St.  Gregory  (Lib.  IV.,  Dialog.  C  44), 
‘that  he  who  sins  against  God  eternally  shall  be 
eternally  punished.’  Now,  he  is  said  to  sin  eter¬ 
nally,  not  by  reason  of  the  continuance  of  the  sin 
throughout  his  whole  life,  but  because  he  takes 
the  sin  as  his  end,  he  has  the  will  to  sin  eternally. 
Hence,  St.  Gregory  says  again :  ‘The  wicked  would 
desire  to  live  for  ever,  that  they  might  continue 
endlessly  in  their  iniquities.’  ” 

(10)  la.,  Ilae.  Q.  Ixxxvii.,  a.  3. 


ETERNAL  I* L\X  I S II  M  E N T . 


15 


When  a  man  is  sentenced  to  a  couple  of  years’ 
hard  labor  because  he  has  been  caught  in  the  act 
of  burglary,  we  say  that  he  has  got  only  what  he 
deserves.  Xo  one  thinks  the  penalty  excessive. 
Xo  one  says  that,  because  the  burglary  was  only 
the  act  of  some  minutes — half  an  hour,  perhaps — 
it  is  unjust  to  inflict,  for  such  an  act,  a  penalty 
which  extends  over  the  space  of  two  years.  It  is 
not  the  act  which  occupied  only  a  few  minutes  that 
people  consider ;  it  is  the  fact  that  the  burglar,  the 
man  whose  action  in  this  particular  case  shows  the 
perversity  of  his  will,  has  been  brought  to  justice 
which  people  look  to,  and  are  satisfied,  in  conse- 
(juence,  that  he  has  been  removed  from  society  to 
which  he  was  a  menace. 

» 

So,  too,  in  the  case  of  sin.  Let  us  bear  in  mind 
what  we  have  said  about  it — that  it  is  the  most  griev¬ 
ous  otYence  any  human  being  could  commit;  that  it 
is  infinite,  because  committed  against  God ;  that  it 
is  subversive  of  all  law,  because  directed  against 
Eternal  Law ;  that  it  is  destructive  of  the  principle 
of  order,  because  directed  against  charity.  Fur¬ 
thermore,  that  it  springs  from  a  perverted  will, 
which  is  in  revolt  against  God,  and  that  as  long  as 
this  revolt  of  the  will  lasts  there  can  be  no  repent¬ 
ance,  consequently  no  forgiveness  of  the  sin  which 
has  been  committed.  The  particular  act  of  sin 


l6  ETERNAL  PUNISHMENT. 

shows  the  perversity  of  the  sinner’s  will;  it  is  in  a 
state  of  revolt  and  opposition  to  God’s  Will  and 
God’s  law.  When  the  will  is  in  that  state,  death 
comes,  suddenly,  let  us  say,  giving  no  time  for  re¬ 
pentance.  It  takes  man  as  it  finds  him,  and  the  will 
which  was  in  revolt  by  that  sinful  thought,  or  word, 
or  act  becomes  petrified,  if  one  may  use  the  word, 
in  eternal  opposition  to  God.  Repentance  means  a 
radical  change  of  will,  but  the  time  in  which  such  a 
change  could  take  place  is  past,  and  the  sinner  must 
exist  for  eternity  without  the  God  Whom,  by  a  de¬ 
liberate  act  of  his  will,  he  has  thrust  aside  in  time. 
If  sin  is  pride,  and  we  have  seen  that  it  is,  then  sin 
is  separation  from  God  as  long  as  pride  continues. 
If  that  revolt  of  the  will  through  pride  becomes  a 
stubborn,  inflexible,  unrelenting  revolt,  the  separa¬ 
tion  must  last  as  long  as  the  will  is  unrelenting.  In 
the  case  we  are  considering  the  will  is  absolutely  in¬ 
flexible  ;  death  has  made  it  so  by  removing  all  pos¬ 
sibility  of  change.  Therefore,  the  separation  of  the 
sinner  from  God  will  be  an  endless  and  eternal 
separation,  and  such  separation  means  eternal  pun¬ 
ishment,  everlasting  torment. 

WHAT,  THEN,  IS  HELL? 

“Hell  is  primarily  separation  from  God  in  the 
other  world,  as  Heaven  is  the  possession  of  God. 
Hell  is  the  necessary  consequence  of  sin,  as  dark- 


RTERX  AL  1*L’ X  IS li  M  EXT. 


17 


ness  is  the  necessary  consequence  of  excluding  light ; 
or,  rather,  Hell  is  sin  under  another  aspect — 
namely,  as  transferred  from  time  to*  eternity. 

Hell  is  no  arbitiary  punishment  devised  by  God, 
and  indicted  by  His  action;  it  flows  from  the  sin¬ 
ner's  own  act  ...  is  the  continuation  of  the 
sinner's  life  as  commenced  on  earth ;  it  is  a  trans¬ 
formation,  and  also  a  conservation,  of  the  same  en- 
ergy  of  sin  which  worked  in  him  here.’'(ii) 

The  Catechism  deflnes  Hell  as  “a  place  or  a  state 
of  punishment  where  those  who  die  in  mortal  sin 
sutler  for  all  eternity.” 

The  infallible  teaching  of  the  Catholic  Church, 
while  it  teaches  that  all  sin  is  a  grievous  thing,  be¬ 
cause  an  ofl'ence  against  Cod,  nevertheless  makes 
a  distinction  between  those  sins  which  do  not  com¬ 
pletely  separate  the  soul  from  Cod  in  this  life  and 
the  sins  which  eft'ect  this  total  separation,  ddie 
first  class  of  sins  are  called  \Tnial ;  the  second  class 
of  sins  are  termed  Mortal  sins,  because  they  bring 
about  the  absolute  destruction  of  supernatural  life 
in  the  soul — namely,  Ciod's  grace. 

When  the  human  will  is  so  intensely  centred  and 
fixed  upon  some  created  good,  in  such  wise  that  that 
good  becomes  its  objective,  its  finality,  its  sole  ob¬ 
ject  of  desire,  in  that  case  love  of  Cod,  above  all 
things,  has  no  place  in  such  a  will.  Cdiarity  is  lost. 

( 1 1  )  “Meditations  on  Christian  I)oj>ina.”  By  the  Ri^lit 
Rev.  Dr.  Bellord.  Vol.  ii..  Treatise  xvi.,  12,  p.  ^^56. 


i8 


ETERNAL  PUNISHMENT. 


As  we  have  already  said,  the  created  good  becomes 
a  god  for  such  an  individual.  The  will,  by  its  own 
deliberate  act  of  choice,  turns  from  the  Creator  to 
the  creature,  and  by  that  act  it  separates  itself  from 
the  Creator.  Such  is  Mortal  sin,  and  Hell  means 
the  continuation  of  that  disunion  and  separation 
forever.  To  quote  once  more  from  Bishop  Bellord : 
‘'As  motion  continues  forever  in  a  straight  line, 
unless  perturbed  by  some  external  force,  so  the  di¬ 
rection  of  the  soul’s  action  continues,  unless  some 
act  of  man,  aided  by  God’s  grace,  intervenes  during 
this  life  to  turn  it  back.” (12)  But,  as  we  have  said, 
death  prevents  such  a  turning  back,  because  it  re¬ 
moves  all  chance  of  change  in  the  human  will ;  con¬ 
sequently,  the  will  continues  in  the  same  direction 
it  took  in  life  at  the  moment  when  death  happened. 
That  direction  was  from  God ;  the  same  direction 
will  continue  of  necessity  for  eternity. 

Hell(i3)  is  so  termed  because  it  is  the  “deep 
abyss,”  the  “bottomless  pit.’’  It  is  said  to  be  a 
“place”  or  “state”  of  punishment ;  and,  while  faith 
teaches  nothing  as  to  where  it  is  situated,  the  tradi¬ 
tion  of  the  Church,  which  is  based  upon  several 
passages  in  Scripture,  has  always  pointed  to  some 
subterranean  place.  We  read  in  St.  Luke’s  Gospel 
that,  when  Our  Divine  Lord  had  driven  the  devils 

(12)  Ibd.,  p.  357. 

(13)  Anglo-Saxon — hel,  a  concealed  place,  from  helan  to 

cover. 


ETERNAL  PUNISHMENT 


^9 


uut  of  the  man,  "they  besought  Him  that  He  would 
not  command  them  to  go  into  the  abyss.”  (14  ) 
Again,  in  Numbers  (15)  we  read:  "the  earth  broke 
asunder  under  their  feet;  and  opening  her  moutli, 
devoured  them  .  .  .  they  went  down  alive  into 

hell,  the  ground  closing  upon  them.”  These  refer¬ 
ences  point  to  a  subterranean  abyss  as  the  dwelling 
of  the  lost ;  but  where  that  abyss  is  situated  none 
can  tell.  It  is  in  the  realms  of  the  Unseen  World ; 
in  the  regions  of  the  mysterious. 

Hell  is  also  designated  in  Scripture  by  the  term 
Gehenna,  that  is,  the  region  of  perpetual  fire,  from 
the  Valley  of  Gehinna,  near  Jerusalem,  where  the 
Israelites  sacrificed  their  children  to  the  god  Mo¬ 
loch.  Isaias  (16)  reiireseiits  the  abode  of  the  lost 
under  the  figure  of  the  Valley  of  Topeth :  “Tojieth 
is  j)repared  from  yesterday,  prepared  by  the  King, 
dee])  and  wide.  The  nourishment  thereof  is  fire  and 
much  wood ;  the  breath  of  the  Lord  as  a  torrent  of 
brimstone  kindling  it.”  There  the  souls  of  the  lost 
suffer  the  penalty  of  their  revolt  now ;  there  will 
the  body  and  soul  suflfer  for  eternity  after  the  uni¬ 
versal  judgment. 

"Although  no  body  is  assigned  to  souls  after 
death,  of  which  they  are  the  form,  or  moving 

])ower,”  says  St.  Thomas,  “still  certain  corporeal 

• 

(14) viii.,  .H-  ABUSSOS — Bottomless;  profound  abyss. 

(15)  xvi.,  31-33. 

(16)  XXX.,  33. 


20 


ETERNAL  PUNISHMENT 


places  are  apportioned  to  them  appositely,  accord¬ 
ing  to  their  degrees  of  worth,  in  which  they  are,  as 
it  were,  in  place,  in  the  manner  in  which  incorporeal 
substances  can  be  in  a  place.  .  .  .  Wherefore, 

we  place  those  souls  which  share  in  the  full  partici¬ 
pation  of  the  Godhead,  in  Heaven ;  but  the  souls 
which  impeded  from  this  participation,  we  locate 
in  the  contrary  place.”  (17) 

‘h\s  in  bodies  there  is  weight,  or  lightness,  by 
w  hich  they  are  drawn,  each  to  its  place  .  .  .  so, 

too,  in  souls  is  there  merit,  or  demerit,  by  which 
they  achieve  reward  or  receive  punishment  as  the 
finality  of  their  actions.  Hence,  as  a  body,  unless 
it  is  hindered,  is  located  immediately  by  its  weight 
or  its  lightness,  so,  too,  souls  when  freed  from  the 
])rison  of  the  flesh  by  which  they  were  hindered  in 
life  attain  at  once  either  reward  or  punishment,  un¬ 
less  something  prevents  them  .  ,  .  and,  since 

a  place  is  apportioned  to  souls  as  they  deserve  either 
reward  or  punishment,  immediately  on  being  re¬ 
leased  from  the  body  will  the  soul  sink  to  Hell,  or 
ascend  to  Heaven,  unless  some  guilt  prevents  this 
by  deferring  that  ascent  until  the  soul  is  purified.” 
(18). 

From  this  it  will  be  seen  that  St.  Thomas  teaches 
that,  immediately  after  death,  the  soul  whose  will 
is  petrified  in  revolt  against  God  will  be  condemned 

(17)  Supplementiim.  Q.  Ixix.,  a.  t.' 

(18)  Snpp.  Q.  Ixix.,  a.  2. 


ETERNAL  PUNISHMENT. 


21 


to  eternal  punishment.  W’e  may  ask  now,  what  is 
the  nature  of  that  punishment? 

THE  NATURE  OF  ETERNAL  PUNISHMENT. 

“lie  it  said  in  reply,”  says  St.  Thomas,  “that  the 
penalty  is  proportionate  to  the  sin.  In  sin  there 
are  two  things,  one  of  which  is  the  turning  away 
from  incommutable  goodness,  which  is  infinite  . 

.  the  other  is  the  inordinate  turning  to  commutable 
good.  .  .  .  To  the  turning  away  (from  God) 

there  corres])onds  the  pain  of  loss,  which  is  infinite  ; 
it  is  the  loss  of  the  Infinitely  Good — namely,  God. 
And  to  the  inordinate  turning  to  (the  creature) 
there  corres])onds  the  pain  of  Sense.” (19) 

This  teaching  of  the  Angel  of  the  Schools  may 
be  inferred  from  the  words  of  Our  Divine  Lord : 
“Then  He  shall  say  to  them  also  that  shall  be  on 
His  left  hand:  De])art  from  Me,  you  cursed,  into 
everlasting  fire. ”(20) 

The  first  words,  “Depart  from  Me,”  signify  the 
Pain  of  Loss ;  the  remainder  of  the  sentence  is  ex¬ 
pressive  of  the  Pain  of  Sense.  There  are,  then,  two 
torments  in  Hell  which  correspond  to  the  twofold 
act  of  the  sinner:  as  he  turned  from  God  in  life,  he 
will  be  separated  from  God  for  eternity  :  as  he  cho^e 
the  creature,  instead  of  God,  for  his  objective  of 

Gg)  la.,  Ilae.  Q.  Ixxxvii..  a.  4. 

\^2o)  St.  Matthew,  xxv.,  41. 


22 


ETERNAL  PUNISHMENT. 


good  and  pleasure  on  earth,  the  creature,  that  is, 
created  suffering,  will  be  his  lot  for  eternity. 

The  Poena  Damni,  or  Pain  of  Loss,  is  the  su¬ 
preme  pain  in  Hell,  for  “it  is  the  loss  of  all  that  is 
good  in  every  kind  and  degree.  .  .  .  It  is  the 
loss  at  once  of  everything ;  of  the  object  and  aim  of 
existence,  of  wholesome  activity,  of  all  that  makes 
life  happy,  of  all  that  constitutes  the  life  of  the 
mind  and  spiiit  apart  from  mere  existence.  Life 
without  God,  even  on  earth,  is  empty,  unsatisfying, 
wearisome,  disappointing ;  life  forever  without  Him 
is  the  accumulation  of  every  misery.”  (21) 

Possibly  we  may  bring  this  home  to  our  readers 
in  some  faint  way.  We  know  that  we  have  the  in¬ 
born  craving  for  happiness.  It  is  instinctive  in 
every  heart  to  desire  happiness ;  but  nothing  finite 
can,  or  ever  will,  satisfy  our  craving,  and  we  ex¬ 
perience  this  when  we  have  obtained  something  we 
desire  strongly.  We  possess  what  we  wanted. 
Yet,  even  in  the  moment  of  possession  we  experi¬ 
ence  a  vague  sense  of  disappointment — the  thing  we 
desired  so  ardently  is  not  just  everything;  we  want 
something  more,  something  thoroughly  and  really 
satisfying.  That  longing  for  something  more  is  the 
expression  of  the  soul’s  discontent  with  the  finite 
and  limited,  and  of  her  desire  for  the  Infinite  and 
limitless  ;  in  other  words,  her  desire  for  God.  To 
(21)  “Meditations  011  Christian  Dogma.”  Bellord,  vol.  ii., 
P-  358. 


ETERNAL  PUNISHMENT. 


23 


recognize  that  God  was  within  our  grasp,  if  we 
may  say  so ;  to  recognize  that  He,  and  He  alone, 
can  fill  the  aching  void  and  satisfy  our  yearning, 
and  then,  to  realize  that  we  have  lost  Him  through 
our  own  deliberate  fault,  and  for  ever — that  is  the 
maddening  pain  which  makes  Hell  what  it  is  for 
those  who  suffer  there — the  dwelling-place  of  the 
eternally  dissatisfied,  the  prison-house  of  unfulfilled 
and  ever-fruitless  desire,  the  home  of  the  lost.  A 
man  never  realizes  how  much  liberty  meant  for  him 
until  he  is  deprived  of  his  freedom.  He  never  ap¬ 
preciates  the  gift  of  sight  until  he  has  gone  blind. 
Then  he  realizes  what  he  has  lost  in  each  case,  and 
if  the  deprivation  of  either  liberty  or  sight  has  been 
through  his  own  fault  or  his  own  neglect,  he  will 
rail  against  himself  for  the  rest  of  his  days.  A  soul 
will  never  realize  what  it  is  to  lose  God  until  she 
has  lost  Him.  And  when  she  realizes  that  her  loss 
is  altogether  due  to  her  own  stubbornness  and 
pride,  the  realization  will  be  pain  of  the  keenest 
kind,  which  eternity  will  never — because  it  can 
never — mitigate.  Dante  says  finely  : 

“He  hath  in  sooth  good  cause  for  endless  grief, 

W  ho,  for  the  love  of  thing  that  lasteth  not, 

Despoils  himself  for  ever  of  that  love.” 

— Paradise  xv.,  8. 

The  V'ision  of  God,  “face  to  face”  constitutes  the 
supreme  bliss  of  the  blessed.  It  is  for  this  purpose 


24 


ETERNAL  PUNISHMENT. 


that  man  has  been  created,  and  created  with  intelli¬ 
gence  and  will,  which  have  been  uplifted  to  the  su¬ 
pernatural  by  the  grace  of  God.  On  the  other  hand, 
to  know  with  certain  knowledge  that  the  Vision  of 
God  is  the  true  objective  of  the  soul’s  energies,  and 
to  realize  that,  that  vision  will  never  break  upon 
the  soul’s  lost  sight  constitutes  the  supreme  punish¬ 
ment  of  the  lost. 

As  regards  the  Pain  of  Sense,  we  have,  first  of 
all,  the  words  of  Our  Blessed  Lord :  “Depart  .  . 

.  into  everlasting  fire.”  Again,  He  speaks  of  “un¬ 
quenchable  fire,”  and  “fire  that  is  not  extin¬ 
guished” ;  (22)  that  “everyone  shall  be  salted  with 
fire” (23)  (in  Hell).  These  expressions,  and  others 
similar,  which  are  found  in  Holy  Scripture,  show  us, 
first  of  all,  that  the  Pain  of  Sense  will  be,  and  is,  a 
pain  of  fire.  What  kind  of  fire  ?  How  can  fire  afflict 
immaterial  substances,  such  as  the  demons  are,  and 
the  souls  of  the  lost?  And  is  fire  the  only  sensible 
pain  which  is  experienced  by  the  damned,  or  are 
there  other  punishments  too?  To  these  questions 
we  can  only  give  the  briefest  of  answers,  for  al¬ 
though  the  Church  insists  upon  the  fact  that  there 
is  sensible  punishment  by  fire,  she  has  never  defined 
what  the  qualities  or  nature  of  that  penalty  are. 

St.  Thomas  teaches  that  the  fire  of  Hell  is  a  cor¬ 
poreal  fire,  and  that  it  afflicts  immaterial  sub- 

(22)  St.  Mark  ix.,  42  seqq. 

(23)  Ibd.,  48. 


ETERNAL  PUNISHMENT. 


25 


stances,  not,  as  some  would  say,  because  these 
spirits  behold  it,  or  because  they  apprehend  it  as 
something  which  is  hurtful,  but  because  “lire  by  its 
own  nature  possesses  the  power  of  uniting  to  it  an 
incorporeal  substance,  as  something  located  is  in  a 
])lace ;  but  in  as  much  as  it  is  the  instrument  of 
Divine  Justice,  it  has  the  faculty  of  keeping  that 
substance  bound,  and  in  this  manner  the  fire  is,  in 
truth,  hurtful  to  the  spiritual  substance,  and  thus 
the  soul,  in  beholding  the  lire  as  hurtful  to  it,  is 
“afflicted  by  it.” (24)  Or,  as  Sylvius  puts  it,  the  soul 
apprehends  this  lire  as  something  hurtful  to  it,  in  as 
much  as,  being  the  instrument  of  Divine  Justice, 
it  is  contrary  to  the  natural  dignity  and  liberty  of 
the  soul,  consequently  the  soul  suffers  the  extreme 
of  sadness. 

‘'A  corporeal  substance,”  says  St.  Thomas,  “can¬ 
not  naturally  act  upon  an  incorporeal  substance 
.  except  it  be  in  some  way  united  to  it ; 
hence  we  read  that  ‘the  corruptible  body  is  a  load 
upon  the  soul.' (25)  A  spiritual  substance  is  united 
to  a  corporeal  substance  in  two  ways;  first,  as  the 
form  of  the  material  substance,  so  that  a  totality 
results  -from  the  union  of  the  two  substances ;  thus 
the  spirit  is  united  to  the  body,  and  quickens  it  .  . 

.  secondly,  as  the  thing  moved  is  united  to  that 
which  moves  it,  or  as  the  thing  in  place  is  united 

(24)  Supplementum.  Q.  Ixx.,  a.  3. 

(25)  Wsdom.  ix.,  15. 


26 


ETERNAL  PUNISHMENT. 


to  the  place;  in  this  manner,  incorporeal  spirits 
that  are  created  are  defined  by  place,  in  that,  being 
in  one  place,  they  are  not  in  another.  And  although 
a  corporeal  substance  can  naturally  define  an  incor¬ 
poreal*  substance  as  regards  place,  it  cannot  natu¬ 
rally  detain  such  a  substance  in  that  place,  so  that 
it  cannot  turn  to  another,  or  other  places.  This 
(power),  however,  is  added  to  this  corporeal  fire, 
in  as  much  as  it  is  the  instrument  of  Divine  Justice, 
that  it  can  bind  the  spirit.” 

‘‘Whatever  may  be  said  concerning  the  fire  which 
afflicts  the  disembodied  souls,  we  must  acknowl¬ 
edge  that  the  fire  by  which  the  bodies  of  the  lost 
will  be  afflicted  is  a  corporeal  fire.  (26)  Such  fire  is 
the  instrument  of  Divine  Justice;  and  an  instru¬ 
ment  acts  not  merely  by  its  own  energy,  and  in  its 
own  manner,  but  also  by  the  energy  of  the  chief 
agent,  and  accordingly  as  it  is  regulated  by  him.” 

(27) 

St.  Thomas  teaches,  further,  that  fire  will  not  be, 
and  is  not,  the  only  sensible  pain  of  the  lost,  and 
adduces  the  words  of  the  Psalmist  in  support  of 
his  teaching:  ‘‘Fire  and  brimstone  and  storms  of 
winds  shall  be  the  portion  of  their  cup.”  (28)'  Hell 
is  the  abode  of  disorder  and  contrariety,  therefore 
“the  lost  will  pass  from  extremest  heat  to  extremes! 
cold.” (29)  “Let  him  pass  from  snow  waters  to  ex- 

(26)  Supp.  Q.  Ixx.,  a.  3.  (28)  Ps.  X.,  7. 

(27)  Ibd.  Q.  xcvii.,  a.  5.  (29)  Reply  to  Third  Obj. 


ETERNAL  PUNISHMENT. 


27 


cessive  heat.” (30)  Moreover,  the  lost  souls  will 
suffer  from  remorse — the  ‘‘worm  that  dieth  not.” 
Everything  for  them  will  be  the  material  and  the 
cause  of  suffering  and  of  sadness,  and  nothing 
which  could  be  the  occasion  of  suffering  will  be 
wanting.  (31) 

Darkness,  weeping,  and  gnashing  of  teeth  are 
mentioned  in  Scripture  as  sufferings  of  the  lost.  (32) 
As  regards  the  two  faculties  of  the  soul,  intelligence 
and  will,  St.  Thomas  tells  us  that  the  lost  will  have 
natural  knowledge  of  those  things  which  they  knew 
on  ea-rth.  Although  unwilling,  they  will  think  of 

V 

the  evil  they  have  committed,  and  on  account  of 
which  they  are  lost  eternally;  and  they  will  have 
before  them  the  good,  the  graces  which  they  squan¬ 
dered,  and  of  which  they  were  unworthy. (33)  Their 
will  is  irrevocably  fixed  in  evil,  since  they  are  ir¬ 
revocably  turned  from  the  final  end  of  every  up¬ 
right  will, (34)  and  they  will  hate  God,  not  as  He  is 
in  Himself,  but  because  of  His  justice  which  they 
experience  in  the  punishment  they  suffer.  (35) 

These  are  the  penalties  which  the  lost  must  suffer 
forever  because  they  have  turned  from  God  and  to 
the  creature.  The  soul  cannot  die ;  it  is  indestruc¬ 
tible,  because  it  is  a  spiritual  substance,  conse¬ 
quently  immortal.  Its  action  in  sin  has  been  rebel- 

(30)  Job  xxiv.,  19.  (33)  Supp.  Q.  xcix.,  a.  7. 

(31)  Supp.  Q.  xcvii.,  a.  1,  ad.  3.  (34)  Supp.  Q.  xcix.,  a.  7. 

(32)  St.  Matthew  viii.,  12.  (35)  H^d.,  a.  i. 


28  ETERNAL  RUNISHMENT. 

lion  and  opposition  to  God  ;  that  opposition  contin¬ 
ues  for  eternity,  and,  in  consequence  of  it,  the  pun¬ 
ishment  due  to  such  sin  will  last  for  ever.  God  will 
never  repulse  a  soid  which  turns  to  Him  Avith  hu¬ 
mility  to  ask  for  pardon  and  forgiveness,  but  there 
are  individuals  who  are  so  obstinate  in  pride,  even 
in  this  life,  whose  hearts  are  so  hardened  that,  in  the 
language  of  Plato,  “their  hearts  are  as  deeps,  deeper 
than  Hell  itself.”  They  laugh  to  scorn  the  idea  of 
craving  for  help,  of  seeking  Divine  assistance,  or  of 
submitting  to  God’s  law.  To  do  this  would  neces¬ 
sitate  humiliation,  and  that  is  foreign  to  them.  Sin 
is  the  free  choice  of  each  individual  will ;  in  each 
case  the  will  prefers  the  temporal  and  transitory  to 
the  eternal  and  only  good.  God  will  not  coerce  the 
human  will,  and,  when  it  elects  to  sin,  it  elects  Hell, 
which,  as  has  been  already  said,  is  but  the  eternal 
continuation  of  sin,  and  the  eternal  obstinacy  of  the 
will  which  turned  away  from  its  true  objective  by 
sin. 

As  we  have  said,  we  do  not  know  much  with  cer¬ 
tainty  as  regards  the  nature  of  the  punishment  of 
the  lost,  except  that  it  is,  first  of  all,  eternal  separa¬ 
tion  from  God,  which  is  the  supreme  penalty ;  and, 
secondly,  that  Our  Blessed  Lord  has  emphatically 
said  the  sensible  pain  is  a  pain  of  fire.  All  other 
pains  and  penalties  of  which  we  read  are  but  infer¬ 
ences  drawn  from  the  fact  that  Hell  exists,  and  that 


ETERNAL  PUNISHMENT. 


29 


it  is  ‘‘a  land  of  misery  and  darkness,  where  the 
shadow  of  death,  and  no  order, tbut  everlasting-  hor¬ 
ror,  dwelleth,”(36)  inferences  which  have  their  war¬ 
ranty  in  the  inspired  writings. 

OBJECTIONS. 

Let  us  now  consider  some  of  the  objections  which 
are  urged  against  eternal  punishment. 

The  chief  objection  is  that  eternal  punishment  is 
altogether  opposed  to  the  infinite  love,  goodness, 
and  mercy  of  God.  Sin  is  often  a  matter  of  environ¬ 
ment,  temperament,  and  education,  consequently 
God  could  not  act  in  so  cruel  a  manner  as  to  eter¬ 
nally  condemn  one  who  is  the  prey  of  so  many  and 
such  strong  incentives  to  evil. 

W’e  must  first  keep  the  following  principles  be¬ 
fore  our  minds — namely,  that  God  is  a  God  of  Jus¬ 
tice  as  well  as  of  mercy,  love,  and  goodness ;  that 
while  it  is  mercy  which  pardons  an  offence.  Justice 
demands  its  punishment ;  that  man  is  a  perfectly 
free  agent,  who  can  act  or  not,  and  in  this  way  or 
in  that,  just  as  he  chooses.  Finally,  that  sin  is  an 
infinite  offence  against  the  very  mercy,  love,  and 
goodness  of  God,  for  “the  greater  the  dignity  of  him 
who  is  offended,  the  greater,  in  consecpience.  will 
be  the  offence. ”(37) 

(36)  Job  X.,  22. 

(37)  Summa.  Theo.  Ilia.,  Pars.  Q.  i  a.  2,  ad.  2m. 


30 


ETERNAL  PUNISHMENl'. 


Now,  Eternal  Justice  demands  that  any  offence 
which  is  committed,  against  Eternal  Law  shall  be 
punished  by  an  eternal  penalty.  God,  Whose  Will 
is  universal,  has  the  universal  good  before  Him,  and 
that  good  necessitates  equilibrium — that  is,  love  and 
justice  must  work  together.  If  any  individual  sins 
against  God’s  love.  His  Divine  justice  comes  into 
action  to  restore  the  equilibrium  which  that  sin  has 
disturbed ;  if  the  sinner  withdraws  himself  from 
God’s  love  by  sin,  he  creates  disorder,  and  order  can 
only  be  restored  by  Divine  justice  which  punishes. 
Now,  when  a  man  sins  mortally,  his  will,  as  has 
been  said  already,  is  in  rebellion  against  God  and 
the  order  He  has  established.  The  rebellion  is  a 
deliberate  act,  for  sin  necessitates  free  choiee ;  a 
man  who  thieves  in  a  state  of  hypnotic  trance,  or 
when  in  a  state  of  somnambulism,  is  not  free — he 
does  not  know  what  he  is  doing,  cannot  refuse  to 
do  it;  he  acts  necessarily  in  one  case,  mechanically 
in  the  other,  consequently  sin  cannot  be  imputed 
to  him.  But,  given  the  possession  of  his  senses,  his 
reason,  and  will,  when  he  sins  then  he  does  so 
freely,  and  that  sin  is  revolt  against  God  and  His 
law.  There  and  then  he  chooses  freely  the  penalty 
attached  to  such  revolt,  and,  if  he  should  die  unre¬ 
pentant,  the  penalty  becomes  an  actuality,  and  not 
merely  a  penalty  which  was  due. 

God  would  not  be  God  if  He  allowed  free  agents 


ETERNAL  PUNISHMENT. 


31 


to  sin  against  Him,  and  the  order  and  law  which 
He  has  established,  without  punishing  those  agents. 
The  very  order  and  law  which  He  has  established 
demand  that  those  who  infringe  the  law  shall  be 
penalized.  There  is  more  of  imagination  than  rea¬ 
son  in  this  objection,  more  of  sentiment  than  strict 
logical  regard  for  truth.  The  sinner  freely  chooses 
evil  in  choosing  sin ;  freely  turns  from  his  true  ob¬ 
jective;  and  he  must  bear  the  consequences  of  his 
choice  for  all  eternity.  Eternal  punishment  is  but 
the  inevitable  consequence  of  mortal  sin,  for  as  by 
such  sin  man  turns  from  his  last  end,  so  in  Hell  he 
is  deprived  of  what  he  turned  from  in  life,  and  shall 
never  attain  it.  “The  punishments,”  says  St. 
Thomas,  “  are  not  inflicted  by  God  for  their  own 
sake,  as  if  He  took  delight  in  them,  but  for  the  sake 
of  others — namely,  on  account  of  the  order  which 
must  reign  in  created  things,  in  which  order  univer¬ 
sal  good  consists.  And  this  order  necessitates  that 
all  things  shall  be  in  i)roportion.”(38) 

Another  objection  made  frequently  is  that  eter¬ 
nal  punishment  is  ])urely  vindictive,  and  that  it  does 
no  good  ;  consequently  that  it  is  useless — in  other 
words,  that  such  punishment  is  not  medicinal. 

The  answer  is,  that  every  penalty  is  medicinal, 
though  not  always  for  the  individual  who  is  pun¬ 
ished  ;  as  for  example,  “when  a  man  is  hanged  it  is 

(38)  Summa.  Theo.  Ilia.  Pars.  Q.  i.,  a.  2,  ad.  2m. 


3^ 


ETERNAL  PUNISHMENT. 


not  that  he  may  mend  his  ways,  but  that  others, 
through  fear  of  such  a  penalty,  may  not  offend,  as  is 
said  in  Proverbs :  ‘The  wicked  man  being  scourged, 
the  fool  shall  be  wiser’”  (xix.,  25).  So,  also,  the 
eternal  punishments  which  are  inflicted  by  God  on 
the  reprobate  are  medicinal  for  those  who,  from 
consideration  of  such  punishments,  refrain  from 
sin,  as  the  Psalmist  says :  “Thou  hast  given  warning 
to  them  that  fear  Thee ;  that  they  may  flee  from  be¬ 
fore  Thy  bow.  That  Thy  beloved  may  be  deliv¬ 
ered”  (cix.,  6-7).  (39)  No  one  can  doubt  that  many  a 
man  who  will  not  be  deterred  from  committing  sin 
by  any  other  consideration  is  deterred  by  the 
thought  of  the  punishment  which  they  experience 
who  are  lost  eternally.  There  is  yet  time  for  such  a 
one,  if  he  has  sinned,  to  repent  of  his  sin  before  re¬ 
pentance  is  too  late.  And  if,  by  God’s  mercy,  he 
has  not  outraged  Divine  goodness,  the  thought  of 
eternal  punishment  is  a  potent  restraint  upon  him 
when  at  times  in  his  life  no  other  thought  has  any 
Aveight. 

Again,  it  is  asked :  Why  is  correction  or  repent¬ 
ance  unavailing  or  impossible  after  death? 

The  life  or  existence  of  a  free  being  is  divided  into 
two  phases.  The  first  is  that  of  formation  and  evo¬ 
lution,  the  second  is  that  of  maturity  and  perfec¬ 
tion.  The  first  phase  implies  temptation,  trial, 
strife;  the  second  implies  rest  and  victory,  conse- 

(39)  Summa.  Theo.  la.  Has.  Q.  Ixxxvii.,  a.  3,  ad.  2m, 


ET EK  X  AL  1* U  X  IS II M  E X  I' . 


33 


<liiently  reward ;  or  failure  and  defeat,  and  conse- 
(juently  chastisement.  If  the  first  phase  is,  of  its 
nature,  transient  and  temporal,  the  second  phase 
is  necessarily  immutable  and  eternal.  Hence  the 
])ossibility  of  change,  conversion,  correction,  or  re- 
])entance  appertains  of  necessity  to  the  first  phase 
of  existence.  If  there  is  a  purpose  in  life — and  we 
have  seen,  and  each  one  knows,  that  there  is  such 
a  purpose — then  that  purpose  is  to  be  attained  in 
the  first  phase  of  life's  evolution  and  striving.  We 
cannot  go  on  striving  for  ever,  but  never  attaining 
the  end  of  our  existence.  If  we  were  to  continue 
always  striving,  but  never  attaining  our  finality,  life 
would  be  without  any  end,  any  purpose,  whatever. 
An  artist  who  sets  to  work  to  paint  a  picture  looks 
forward  to  the  day  when  he  will  have  it  finished. 
We,  in  life,  struggling  and  striving,  look  forward  to 
the  day  when  all  strife  will  be  at  an  end.  That  end 
means  for  us  “rest  after  toil,”  when  judgment  will 
])e  pronounced  upon  our  life  and  our  life’s  work. 
Now,  we  are  composite  beings:  we  have  a  soul  and 
a  body,  and  the  whole  man  is  engaged  in  the  work¬ 
ing  out  of  his  destiny.  Wdien  death  comes  to  sepa¬ 
rate  body  and  soul,  then,  and  only  then,  is  the  work 
of  life  finished  and  done.  The  whole  man  can  work 
no  longer.  “After  this  life.”  says  St.  Thomas,  “the 
power  of  man’s  attaining  his  last  end  does  not  re¬ 
main  ;  for  man  requires  his  body  that  he  may 


34 


ETERNAL  PUNISHMENT. 


achieve  his  finality,  in  that  he  acquires  perfection 
in  the  way  of  knowledge  and  of  virtue  through  the 
body.  The  soul  when  separated  from  the  body  does 
not  again  return  to  the  state  in  which  it  acquired 
perfection  by  means  of  the  body.  Hence  it  is  that, 
whosoever  is  punished  by  this  penalty  (viz..  Hell) 
is  deprived  of  his  last  end,  and  remains  deprived  of 

it  eternally.”  (40) 

We  must  ever  remember  what  has  been  said  con¬ 
cerning  the  perversity  of  the  human  will  in  delib¬ 
erate  sin — that  perversity  in  this  or  that  particular 
act  of  sin  implies  a  complete  aversion  from  God  as 
the  end  of  man  and  his  purpose  in  life.  He  wills 
to  serve  self,  and  not  God,  and  in  doing  this  he  wills 
all  the  consequences.  God  is  not  bound  to  give  His 
grace  at  any  moment,  and  without  grace  there  can 
be  no  radical  change  of  the  will.  And  no  radical 
change  means  “confirmation”  or  fixity  in  evil.” 
This  is  the  attitude  of  the  will  of  the  lost  soul.  Eter¬ 
nity  has  but  given  actual  immobility  to  a  state  of 
wjll  that  was  potentially  so. 

We  haye  said  enough  to  show  what  is  the  teach¬ 
ing  of  the  Catholic  Church  concerning  this  doctrine. 
It  is  a  doctrine  at  once  jterrifying  and  reasonable, 
and  it  is  a  doctrine  which  is  explicitly  taught  in  the 
pages  of  Holy  Writ.  There  is  no  injustice  done  to 

(40)  Contra  Gentiles,  Bk.  iii.,  ch.  cxliv.  Cf.  “Eternite  de 

I’Enfer.”  By  A.  Dupont,  in  the  Diet.  Apologetique. 

Jaugey. 


ETERNAL  PUNISHMENT. 


35 


the  sinner;  in  the  truest  sense  each  sinner  makes  his 
own  Hell,  and  condemns  himself  to  suffer  therein. 
God’s  justice  demands  that  they  who  outrage  Him 
shall  be  punished  for  their  crime.  The  penalty  is 
proportionate  to  the  fault  committed.  •  The  fault  is 
infinite,  and  infinite,  too,  shall  be  the  penalty.  It  is 
infinite  in  time,  because  the  sinner  turns  from  In¬ 
finite  Good ;  eternity  confirms  that  loss  by  making 
the  separation  an  eternal  one. 


^  ij  .  • 


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